The Antelope-Goat of the Pacific Slope. 97 



at the farther end of the tarn. There, on the "saw tooth" top of 

 these singularly bold cliffs, we see, clearly outlined against the blue 

 horizon, some five or six snow-white apparitions, which, on 

 examination with the glass, prove to be the long-looked-for, 

 much-doubted mountain antelope. We have come, we have seen, 

 but we have yet to conquer. 



In the waning light of the afternoon and evening an unsuccess- 

 ful stalk was tried, for the wind was unfavourable, and the game 

 had probably seen us. So no wonder that long before we had 

 climbed the ridge, which, on reaching it, we found to be broader 

 than it appeared from below, our quarry had vanished. The whole 

 ground, however, was tracked up by the sharp and unmistakable 

 impressions of their hoofs, while long, tangled masses of the woolly 

 hair of their winter coat, which they evidently were just then 

 shedding, festooned the rocks, against which the animals were 

 apparently in the habit of rubbing themselves. From these and 

 other signs we conjectured that the giddy ridge we were standing 

 on, with deep, almost sheer precipices falling off on both sides, was 

 a favourite resort of our game. And so it proved to be, for 

 nowhere else were they so frequently to be seen as on precisely 

 such ridges, which formed the highest points in the neighbourhood. 



For the next few days we saw little of each other, for when we 

 returned to camp at or after dusk, hungry and fagged by twelve 

 or fourteen hours' stiff rock-climbing, the morrow's stalk made us 

 seek our cosy sleeping bags at an early hour. Our party got, all 

 told, fifteen of these beasts, of which nine fell to my rifle. 



In those parts of the Bitter-Root Mountains visited by us, 

 stalking is about as difficult as it can be ; for the slopes, where they 

 are not actual precipices, are covered with masses of debris, loose 

 slabs, and boulders, with the sharpest corners and edges imagin- 

 able. On this ground it is nearly impossible to approach game 

 noiselessly. Let you be ever so careful and circumspect, using 

 knees, toes, and fingers, you cannot proceed very far before a slab, 

 poised in a secure-looking position, will rattle away from under 

 you, and in nine cases out of ten start a miniature avalanche of 



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